Trump Marches On With His Goal To Make World Hotter, More Polluted, Less Safe

Energy Secretary Chris Wright seems to understand coal,
but doesn't appear to know what batteries are. He's demanding
to coal plants in Indiana stay open because he figures
solar and wind energy doesn't work because sometimes
the weather is cloudy and calm. Sigh. 

Donald Trump has been in the headlines lately for his attack on Venezuela, his threats to other nations and his long held wish to earn a Nobel Peace Prize by (checks notes) bombing, attacking and threatening other nations. 

But Trump is no one-trick pony, no siree! He's got to continue his mission to worsen climate change and make the environment less safe for both humans and wildlife. 

We've got yet another example, as if we needed it. Let's go to Indiana to find out more:  

E&E News by Politico reports:

"The Department of Energy ordered two Indiana coal plants Tuesday to postpone retirement and continue operating, expanding President Donald Trump's campaign to aid fossil fuels."

DOE had previously ordered two other coal plants to stay open. The new orders to keep the Indiana plants operating came less than a month before they were to close down permanently.  Energy Secretary Chris Wright said data center construction will create the need for more capacity. 

The orders to keep the plants open technically expire March 23, but you can bet a cloud of ozone air pollution that the Trumpsters will insist the plants stay open way past then. 

Then, as Wright often does, he either demonstrates extreme stupidity or he's such a cult follower of Donald Trump that he'll say things like this:

"Keeping these coal plants online has the potential to save lives and is just common sense. Americans deserve reliable power regardless of whether the winds is blowing or the sun is shining during extreme weather conditions."

Wright still hasn't heard of batteries? A little alarming, considering he's the Energy Secretary.  

Wright's critics, and there are a lot of 'em, say that keeping the tottering old coal plants running would actually drive up electricity prices while doing nothing to increase reliability. Environmentalists and consumer advocates point to a Michigan coal plant that was previously ordered to stay open by the Trump administration.

The big old coals plant in Michigan has cost ratepayers $80 million. I wonder how much a few wind turbines or solar panels would cost in comparison

In this current mess, the 800-megawatt Schahfer plant in Indiana was set to close Northern Indiana Public Service  Co (NIPSCO) was planning on getting out of the coal generation altogether and replace them with solar and gas facilities. 

The utility was planning to install 2,600 megawatts of gas generation at the site of Schahfer to serve new Amazon data centers. 

Which sounds more efficient and able to keep up with data center demands than an old coal plant. So I'm not sure why the Trump gang is so wedded to coal here. NIPSCO hasn't really addressed how the "you must burn coal' directive will affect their ability to supply electricity to the data centers.

NIPSCO did say that it is essential stuck. 

"Compliance with this directive is mandatory. We are carefully reviewing the details of this order to assess its impact on our employees, customers and company to ensure compliance," the utility said in a statement. "While this development alters the timeline for decommissioning this station, our long-term plan to transition to a more sustainable energy future remains unchanged."

What has changed is any attempt to go toward a more sustainable future has to wait until Trump and his minions disappear and are replaced by a government that actually follows both the law and logic. 

In the meantime, air pollution will increase or at the very best not get worse. And once again, Trump will contribute to one of the few things he's good at: creating more intense climate change.  I don't know what's worse. The hot air out of his mouth or the hot air created by his quote, unquote policies.